Matthew 7:13-14(NLT) “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the
narrow gate. The highway to Hell is broad, and it’s gate is wide for
the many who choose that way. But the Gateway to Life is very narrow
and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.”
Sometimes we forget that there is more than a narrow gate to get
through there is also a narrow road to navigate. And you can only get
to the narrow road by way of the narrow gate and conversely, if you
are not on the narrow road you have not gone through the narrow gate.
Have you ever been on a river or just followed it and found where it
narrows? The waves can be huge and the water swift and it is usually
the deepest part of the river. The way may be narrow but it is not
shallow. It is too deep for us but not for God and fortunately we
cannot be on the narrow way without Him.
The Narrow Gate is obviously Jesus. A walk with God begins with Jesus
because He is the Narrow Gate. Entering through that Narrow Gate is
called “Justification”. Justification is being made right with God
the Father through the Blood of Jesus on the Cross. We are justified
because Jesus bore and paid for our sins.
The narrow road (path/way) is called sanctification. Sanctification
is the path laid out for you by Justification; walking the straight
and narrow it is sometimes called. Things along this “Deep Water”
narrow path are what God uses to strengthen and prepare us. This is
where the veils that separate us from God are torn down and on this
narrow path we can be assured God is with us and guiding us through
the rough waters. At the end waits Glorification, being made perfect
and sinless forever and standing in person with the God for whom we
live.
Legalism is trying to build your own narrow path without going through
the narrow gate. You can walk a road of goodness but it goes nowhere
without Jesus. There is no “Jesus and…” there is only Jesus. Our
works of goodness do not save us from our sins. We must take the path
Jesus laid to reach the goal of glorification.
“Inclusivism” is thinking you have entered through the Narrow Gate but
trying to bring your life with you through the Gate. It is claiming
salvation yet still living on the “broad road”. It is trying to bring
your worldly desires with you. You must come through the Narrow Gate
empty and every one who goes through the Gate of Jesus Christ is
changed. The narrow way is full of the righteousness of God to the
point it would drown you were not Christ there to see you through
every step of the way.
When you come through the Narrow Gate you do so alone but on the other
side, in the Narrow Path, lies all the fullness of life – joy
unspeakable and peace beyond understanding.
The Spiritual journey of salvation begins with what we recognize at
Easter; the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; the
Gospel (1Corinthians 15). Let go and go through the Narrow Gate.